Corona Devotionals

It can be debated, but many polls find "public speaking" (glossophobia) to be the fear that ranks highest in people's responses when categorized.   And other fears at the top of people's lists include heights (acrophobia), bugs (entomophobia), and claustrophobia (fear of small spaces).  But another consistent response when it comes to our fears is... (can we guess it?): death.   There's no way around the fact that each of us will die one day.  And yet, the topic and acceptance and the unknown of death (and what succeeds death) has been a hot (and worrisome) button since before there were buttons. But as for those of us who read our Bibles and believe what God says in them...well, there are days when I can't wait. No, non, no, I am not saying that I literally "can't wait to die", because that would be morbid.  But, Yes(!) to the notion that we cannot wait to be with Jesus,  the Lamb,  when our time does come to do so. Sometimes when this worl...

I remember past personal captivities and  slavery .  You do too. I have not forgotten the captivity of my spirit upon the death of my mom.   The loss.  The deep sorrow.  The aftershock...for years.    That was my slavery in Egypt for a season.  I was enslaved for a time to hollowness, grief and separation.  But, (my Lord and my God!), You not only trudged through each hour and day of that (heart, mind, and body) sadness-slavery...You then rescued me, just as You rescued  the Israelites from the Egyptians .  You did a  mighty miracle , and You are  still  performing them.  In time and in Your due-process, and in Your sovereignty--You rescued me from my slavery .  I remember the time, the place, and the friend that I was with when Your deliverance came...and when my heaviness lifted.  It was a mighty miracle that you (alone) did.  “Yes,” says the   Lord ,  “I will do mighty miracles...

Micah was a prophet in the Bible (called to share His Word and ways with others).    Micah is fed up with folks rebelling against God. Micah is lonely in his service to God. Micah is angry, but righteously so. Micah desires for more people living around him to live for God, instead of themselves. Micah wants to glorify God with his life. Micah has realized that it is not just that the people around him are not serving God boldly, but it is also that they have decidedly chosen unGodly ways, methods-of-business, and wicked weights-and-measures.  Good has lost, and evil is reigning in Micah's day. Micah is sad for God's chosen people because they are choosing themselves and not God. Micah is mad that God's people are rebelling against God.  Let's meet Micah. How miserable I am!  I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest  who can find nothing to eat.  N ot a cluster of grapes or a single early fig  can be found to satisfy my hunger....

We finally had a morning where the temperatures moved above the forties and I decided to crack the window over my kitchen sink...just to hear the morning birds chattering and to breathe a little fresh air.  But as I inhaled, my lungs and my heart filled up with the delicious scent of lavender lilacs, and my mood instantly was uplifted.  My lips curved up in a s mile and the day was better ...just because of those lilacs and their amazing, pleasing, pleasant aroma. I wonder...do we (you and I), or  could we. ..have that same "lilac effect" on the people that we encounter and engage with today?  For we are to God the fragrance of Christ  among those who are being saved and  among those who are perishing.  ~II Corinthians 2:15 We have to begin by having Christ within us...to fill us up with His Spirit, so that we might release His fragrance.  But, we have the Lord, don't we Brothers and Sisters in Christ?  Or--I should say, He has us. We know ...

I found it curious today in my Bible reading today that God called the mountains and hills to be our witnesses today.  Is that odd? Or do we discount that just as God created man (Adam) and from Adam... us, God also created and breathed life into all things: the mountains and the hills too. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ( 10) God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.  ~Genesis 1:9-10 Or do we discount (in their value) that the mountains and hills were here long before us...and will be here long after we're gone? God calls  the mountains and hills to witness our complaints against Him, and just His authority and sovereignty in doing so demonstrates His power and rule over us and all things. (He asks parts of the geography to be witnesses ! Only our Creator God could do that!) What is our beef with God today?  What are w...